Method of making tire-valve stems



E. G. OAKLEY METHOD OF MAKING TIRE VALVE STEMS Feb. 19, 1929.

7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 5, 1925 gnbewtoz Feb. 19, 1929.

"E. G. OAKLEY METHOD OF MAKING TIRE vVALVE STEMS Filed July 5, 1923 '7 Sheets-Sheet 2 v Feb. 19, 1929. 1,702,310

E. G. OAKLEY METHOD OF MAKING TIRE VALVE STEMS Filed July 5, 1925 YSheetS Sheet 3 Febfls, 1929..

E. G. OAKLEY METHOD OF MAKING TIRE VALVE STEMS Filed July 5, 1923 v Sheets-Sheei 4 Feb. 19, 1

Feb. 19, 1929. 1,702,310

E. G. OAKLEY I THOD OF MAKING TIRE VALVE STEMS 7 Sheets-Sheet wil x L IIIIIIAI MIVIJVIIIIIW0II/ 1\ Patented Feb. 19, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

IRASTUS G. OAKLEY, OI SO'UTKPOBT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOB TO BRIDGEPOBT BRASS COMPANY, OF BBIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

IETHOD OF MAKING TIRE-VALVE STEIB.

Application an m a, 1923. Serial No. 849,086

This invention relates to the manufacture of so-called tire valve stems or casings and more particularly to a valve stem des1gned for use with pneumatic tires, the Invention being particularly concerned with the tube or casing in which the valve proper 1s mounted. In the past, such stems or casmgs have usually been manufactured from a plece of solid bar stock. In the process of manufac turing the casings from material of this character, it is necessary to drill an opening through the entire length of the bar, 1n order to provide for the admission of air to the tire, after the stem has been connected therewith. For many reasons, a valve stemmade by this prior method possesses certain 1nherenti defects and disadvantages, among which are lack of tensile strength, a wee. point of connection between the body of the stem and the broadened base portion formed when the blank is headed, and a relatively large wastage of material and a lack of economy in the process of manufacture. In practicing my improved process, I propose to make the valve stems or casings from hollow shells or'tubes, and I prefer to form these tubes from a sheet metal blank by a series of drawing operations. By my method, the casings or shells may be made substantiall in their finished form by a series of suc operations, thus doing away with more expensive mechanical processes or hand work in their manufacture.

More specifically, the completed valve stem in common use at this time comprises an elongated tubular body provided with a re-. duced upper end and a flat head upon its lower end, the head joining the body portion by a .reduced neck. This body has an opening extending entirely through it and in the opening is provided a projecting shoulder, upon which the valve proper may seat. The elongated body is threaded externally, and the upper reduced end is provided with both interior and exterior threads, and generally the body portion is also provided with opposite fiat sides. By my improved method, I propose to form by a series of drawing 0 erations, a flat sided tubular casing or' s ell provided ,with a reduced upper end, both the bodyv portion and the end of the blank being given the cross sectional dimensions desired in the finished article. The blank may then be headed by the folding outwardly of the upper portion of the casing and drawing the metal in said folded portion to form a thickened disk-like base or head, disposed transversely of the body portion of the shell and having an opening therein which is a clcinltiinuation of the opening through the s e One object of my invention is to obviate the disadvantages present in prior processes of manufacture, by providing for the manufacture of a tire valve stem by a series of drawing operations which may be economically performed.

Another object of my invention is to provide an economical method for manufacturing devices of this character, which, at the same time, produce a tire valve stem of superior strength and uality.

A still further dloject of my invention is the provision of a tire valve stem which may be made cheaply and without undue wastage of material, and which will, at the same time, possess all of the advanta es of and be superior to articles of this kind now in use.

A particular feature of the present invention is the production of a tire valve stem from a drawn sheet metal shell, having a single ply base formed by folding over and thickening a part of the wall of the shell.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in thenovel features and combinations of steps to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accom anying drawin Fig. 1 is a si eelevational view of a tire valve stem embodying myinvention; a

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same, showing the valve proper mounted therein;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the stem shown in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of a blank in the form of a sheet metal disk from which the casing is made;

Fi s. 5, 6 and 7 are sectional views show- Fig. 8 is an elevational view, partly in sec- I reduced neck is of the llowing outwardl or flaring of the upper portion to form the use;

Fig. 12 is a sectional view of the blank shown in Fig. 11 after the upper and lower ends have been trimmed;

Fig. 13 is a side elevational view of the blank, partly in section, showing the inward displacement of the tube wall to provide the inner valve supporting shoulder Fig. 14 isa view similar to Fig. 13 after the walls of the annular channel or groove have been closed;

Figs. 15, 16 and 17 are elevational views,

artly in section, showing successive stages in the formation of the disk-like base upon the end of the shell;

Fig. 18 is a similar view of the shell after the formation of the neck adjacent the disklike base;

Fig. 19 is a view similar to Fig. 18, illustratin r the appearance of the blank after the annu lar grooves orchannels have been cut in the upper surface of the base;

Fig. 20 is a somewhat fragmentary view of the mechanism used for forming the reduced upper neck upon the shell shown in Fig. 8;

Fig. 21 is a view similar to Fig. 20, showing the operation of drawing the flat sides upon the blank;

Figs. 22 and 23 are similar views showing the operation of flowin outwardly or flaring the upper part of the s ell wall preparatory to forming the disk-like base;

Fig. 24 shows the operation of displacing she wall of the tube to form the internal shoul5 Fig. 25 is a view showing the operation of closing together the walls of the groove formed by the operation shown in Fig. 24;

Figs. 26, 27 and 28 are views showing the method by which the disk-like base is formed at the end of the blank;

Fig. 29 is a view showing the operation of forming the reduced neck adjacent the base; and

Fig. 30 shows the cuttin or milling of the annular grooves or channels in the upper surace of the base. I

The particular valve stem which I have shown in the drawings as produced by my improved method, comprises a tubular body port on 10. provided with fiat sides 11 and joining a re atively broad disk-like base 12 l a reduced portion or neck 13, formed by an atinular exterior groove upon the body portion adjacent the base. At the upper end, the body 10 is reduced in size and threaded as at 14 to receivethe usual valve cap (not shown) and the body is also usually threaded throughout its length as at 15, in order that a dust cap may longitudinal bore 16 extends entirely through the body and also through the upper neck and the lower base, and within this bore may be secured upon the stem. A'

be provided a pro'ecting shoulder 17 to serve" as a support for t e valve structure 18.

According to the preferred embodiment of my method, which I have chosen to illustrate and describe, the valve stem is formed from a hollow shell or tube drawn from a blank of sheet metal of roper gauge, shown at 20, in Fig. 4. This blank or disk of sheet metal is placed in a. suitable drawing press and cupped as shown at 21, in Fig. 5. The blank is then, by succeeding drawing operations, drawn out or elongated-and reduced in diameter through the stage shown at 22, in Fig. 6, until as shown at 23, at Fig. 7, it is given throughout its length the diameter which is desired in the body of the finished article, i. e., the external diameter of the tube 23 should be that of the threaded body of the valve stem 10, shown in Fig. 1. I While the exact order of performance of the described steps is not always important, I prefer next to reduce the closed end of the blank to form the upper reduced end of the stem. For this purpose, I prefer to use a drawing press of the form shown in Fig. 20, wherein the blank 23 is placed in the opening 24 of a suitable die 25 and operated upon by the punch 26 provided with a suitably shaped tool projection 27 upon its lower end. the blank has been operated upon by the punch 26 it assumes the form shown at 28, in Fig. 8. The forming of the reduced neck upon the blank is not limited to one operation but may and usually will be made b a series of drawing operations, of which t at shown in Fig. 20 will be the final or finishing one.

The hollow shell is still circular in cross section, and as shown in Fig. 21, may be drawn through the die opening 34 in a suitable die 35, by means of the punch 36, during which operation are formed the opposite flat sides shown at 37, in Fig. 9. The die opening 34 and punch 36 are, of course, properly shaped to bring about the required ch ange in the cross sectional shape of the shell.

The shellv may now be placed in the shouldered opening 38 of a die 39 and operated upon by a punch 40, as shown in Fig. 22, to turn outwardly or flare the wall adjacent the upper end thereof preparatory to forming the disk-like base upon this end of the product. The result of this operation is shown at 41, in Fig. 10. The wall at this point may be still further flared and the shoulder between the flared portion and the body of the shell made still sharper as shown at 42, in Fig. '11, by means of a further drawing operation, by means of the punch 43, shown in Fig. 22', the shell preferably remaining in the same die 39 in which the preceding operationwas performed. 1

The two ends of the shell may now be trimmed as shown at 45 and 46, in Fig. 12. This results in the cutting off of the closed When I and of portion of the shell so of its body;-i. e., the fiatsided portion of the shell is of the same 'cross sectional size as desired in the finishedv article, as is also the reduced end.

It will now be found expedient to form the interior valve supporting shoulder, and

for this urpose the shell may be placed in the revo ving chuck 47, shown n Flg. 24, while the other end is held in a suitable work holder 48.

It may then be operated upon by a suitable hammer 49, the portion of the blank being 0 erated upon resting upon a suitable die 50. The hammer 49 is provided with a rib 51 and the die 50 provided with a similar rib 52. The shell is rotated while the hammer 49 is given a reciprocating movement. and this operation results in the formation of an exterior annular groove 53, together with a corresponding internal shoulder 54 upon the shell. j

The walls of the groove 53 may then be closed up as shown at 55, in Fig. 14;. This is effected by lacing the shell in a suitable die 56 and br nging down u on the upper end thereof a' punch 57, prov-i ed with a suitably shaped tool projection 58. The lower end of the shell is suitably held against displacement while the punch is brought down forcibly upon the upper end, and as a result the walls of the groove are closed together effectually so that the exterior surface of the shell body is substantially continuous and smooth, the annular projection 54, however, still remaining within the tube bore.

The formation of the single ply head upon the blank may nowbe expediently effected.

For this purpose, the shell in the form shown at 78, in Fig. 14 is placed in a suitable shouldered die opening 79 in the die 80 of a punch press, shown in Fig. 26. The punch 59 bears a tool projection 60, which carries a pin 61, designed to enter the bore of the shell. When the punch 59 is brought down upon the work the flared wall of the blank is forced downwardly and the metal thickened, the bore at this portion being somewhat reduced in diameter about the pin 61. The shell which emerges from the die 80 in the form shown at 62, in Fig. 15, is then placed in a die 63, the opening of which has a relatively sharp or flat shoulder 64, and the punch 65 is further extent and the metal 'caused to flow inwardly about the pin 67 to thicken the 'wall of the tube at this point. The completion of the head is then efiected by means of the punch 69 0 rating upon the shell in the opening 70, in the die 71, the punch caring upon its lower face a pin 72to insure t e maintenance of an opening through the formed head or base.

. The shell may then be placed in a rotating .5

chuck 81 and'operated upon by a hammer 82 provided with an arcuate rib 83, while supported at theother side by a die 73, provided with a similar rib 74. The result of this operation is to displace inwardly the wall of the shell adjacent the base to form ufacture of the shell has now been completed and it only remains to cut the external and internal threads upon the body and neck thereof to make the completed stem ready for use, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

. It will be, of course, understood that my improved method is not limited in all its aspects to the exact steps shown, oi the order in which these steps are carried out, nor to the mechanism shown for performing the various operations. The particular method described is capable of modification and variation within the spirit of the invention and within the scope of the appended claims.

1 While in the particular embodiment of my improved method which I have described,'a part of the process of formingthe' head upon the shell is performed before, and

the remainder after the formation of the interior valve supporting shoulder, it will be understood that this particular sequence is not important in all aspects of the invention.

It will be observed that the first steps in the the lower neck 75, as shown in Figs. 18 and formation of the head or base are performed by means of a tool which exerts lateral pressure interiorly upon the wall of the shell to cause the wall to flare outwardly adjacent the open end thereof, as shown in Figs. 10 and 11. After the flared wall has been trimmed at the upper end the completion of the headis effected by tools which exert pressure upon the upper edge of the flared portion in an axial direction to cause the metal the shell, although this 0 ening is considerably reduced in size. While thus confined by means of the wall of the die opening and the pins upon the punches, the metal in the flared portion of the shell will be caused to flow laterally orin a direction substantially trans-' verse to the shell axis by means of the presshell closed at one end and having its wall flared outwardly at the open end, and then upsetting said flared portion in an axial and radial direction to increase the thickness of said portion and press it into a flat disk-like head of uniformly increased thickness, relatively to the wall of the shell in a plane at right angles to the axis of the shell.

2. The process of making a valve stem or,

the like, which comprises drawing a sheet metal shell from a suitable blank, drawing opposite flat sides upon the shell so made, flaring outwardly the open end of the flat sided shell so formed, and then upsetting said flared portion into a flat circular disklike base.

3. The process of making a valve stem or the like, which comprises drawing a sheet metal shell from a suitable blank, drawing opposite flat sides upon the shell so made, flaring outwardly the open end of the fiat sided shell so formed, and then upsetting said flared portion into a circular disk-like base thicker than the shell wall.

4. The method of making a valve stem which comprises preparing a cup-shaped blank, drawing said blank into a relatively long tubular shell having flat sides and closed at one end, the wall of the shell at the other end being flared outwardly and of increased diameter relatively to the shell body, and then forcing, by further upsetting operations, the metal of the flared portion of the shell downwardly and laterally to form a flat disk-like base or head upon the shell extending in a plane at right angles to the shell axis while simultaneously causing the metal to flow to increase its thickness so that the resulting head is of increased thickness relatively to the shell wall, and preserving during the heading operation an opening through the formed head smaller than the bore of the shell body.

5. The method of making a valve stem or the like, which comprises drawing a sheet metal shell from a suitable blanlndrawing opposite flat sides upon the shell so formed, flaring outwardly the metal at one end of the shell, and then upsetting the flared end of the shell into a flat circular disk-like base, and thickening said base by causing the metal of the flared portion of the shell to or the like, which comprises preparing a cupshaped blank of relatively thick metal, drawing said blank into a relatively long sheet metal shell having flat sides and closed at one end, and having its wall adjacent the otherend flared outwardly so that the diameter of the shell is increased at the open end, and then upsetting the metal inthe flared portion of the wall downwardly and outwardly to form a thickened plane disk-like head of a thickness greater than the wall of the shell and joining the shell at a point of increased thickness of metal.

7. The method of making a valve stem or the like which comprises drawing from a suitable blank a flat sided tubular shellclosed at one end,-flaring outwardly the wall of the shell at one end of the blank, and upsetting said flared portion into a thick single ply disk-like head by exerting pressure thereon axially of the blank so as to cause the metal of the wall of the shell to flow downwardly and inwardly to form a flat base of uniform thickness reater than the shell wall, confining the meta of the base centrally of the bore of the shell to preserve the opening therethrough, and thereafter displacing inwardly the wall of tilzle shelladjacent the base to form a lower nec 8. The method of making a valve stem or the like from a drawn tubular shell, which comprises upsetting the metal adjacent the open end of the shell in a thick disklike head while maintaining the tube opening therethrough, but reduced in size, and then displacing inwardly the shell wall adjacent the head to form a reduced neck.

9. The process of forming a valve stem or the like, which includes the step of forming a flat disk-like head upon one end of a tubular blank, which comprises flaring the wall of the tube outwardly adjacent one end thereof and causing the metal of said flared portion of the wall to flow downwardly and inwardly to form a flat head transverse to the tube axis.

10. The process of forming a valve stem or the like, which includes the step of forming a flat disk-like head upon one end of a tubular blank by causing the wall of the tube to be, flared outwardly adjacent one end thereof by exerting lateral pressure interiorly upon the tube wall and then causing the metal in the portion so flared to flow downwardly and inwardly to form the head transverse to the tube axis while maintaining the tube opening through the head thus formed.

11. The process of forming a valve stem or the like, which comprises exerting pressure in a lateral direction upon, and interiorly of. the wall of a tubular blank to cause said wall to be flared outwardly adjacent one end of the blank and then applying pressure to said flared portion in a direction parallel to the tube axis to cause the metal of said flared rtion to flow downwardly and laterally to orm a disk-like base.

12. The method of making a valve stem or the like, which comprises cupping a sheet metal disk, drawing said cup into a tubular shell and then upsetting the metal at one end of the shell into a flat single ply disk-like base transverse to the tube axis.

13. The method of making a valve stem or the like, which comprises cupping a disk of sheet metal of the proper gauge, then drawing said cup into a tubular shell closed at one end, cutting oii' sai'clclosed end to perfect an opening through the shell, flaring the metal at one end of the shell into a bell shaped mouth, displacing the shell wall inwardly intermediate its ends to form an interior shoulder, applying pressure to the opposite ends of the shell to close together the walls at the point of said displacement, then applying pressure axially of the tube to the edge of the ared mouth to cause the metal of said flared portion to flow downwardly and inwardly to form a flat disk-like head.

14. The method of making a valve stem or.

the like which comprises cupping a sheet metal disc,'drawing the cup into a tubular shell having a closed end portion of reduced cross-section, cutting oil the terminal part of such end portion, and upsetting the metal at the other end of the shell to form a flat single-ply disc-like base transverse to the tube axis. 15. The method of makin a valve stem or the like which comprises rawing from a suitable blank an elongated shell having a closed end portion of reduced cross-section and c lindrical shape, drawing fiat sides upon the portion of greater cross-section, cutting ofi the terminal part of the-reduced end portion, and upsetting the metal at the other end of the shell to form a flat thickened transverse base in the shape of a disc.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 30th day of June, 1923.

ERASTUS G. OAIUJ EY. 

